CH 14

After class, Lin Yuxing went to work at the bakery.

Zhou Jie, concerned about his health, kindly said, “You can take two days off and come back later.”

“It’s okay, Sister Zhou. I took medicine yesterday and I’m feeling much better now,” Lin Yuxing replied. After washing his hands, he eagerly stepped forward to help, sticking labels on the packaged cookies and placing them on the shelves.

The doorbell rang, and a few students entered. Following Zhou Jie’s instructions, Lin Yuxing handed each of them a small piece of butterfly pastry for sampling.

“The butterfly pastry is a new product in the shop. I also prepared some for you,” Zhou Jie took out two portions, handed them to Lin Yuxing and said, “Give the other one to your classmate from yesterday as a token of appreciation.”

“My classmate from yesterday?” Lin Yuxing patted his own apron.

“The Alpha who accompanied you to the school clinic yesterday, he was quite handsome. Don’t you know each other? He called your name directly and seemed very concerned,” Zhou Jie thought they had a good relationship, which is why she prepared an extra portion of butterfly pastry. “I’m glad he appeared yesterday, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to carry you.”

Lin Yuxing was a male Omega and was noticeably taller than Zhou Jie, who was a female Beta.

If Gu Zhongyi hadn’t arrived in time, Zhou Jie would have had to go out and ask for help.

Lin Yuxing realized that he had caused trouble for others and quickly apologized. He took the butterfly pastry and gratefully said, “Thank you, Sister Zhou. I will give it to him.”

“You’re welcome,” Zhou Jie pointed to the scarf around his neck and reminded him, “I have turned on the heater. Aren’t you feeling hot?”

It was then that Lin Yuxing realized he hadn’t taken off the scarf yet.

Perhaps because the scarf had been in Gu Zhongyi’s car and had been touched by Gu Zhongyi himself, leaving a hint of bitter orange pheromone on it, which smelled exceptionally pleasant, Lin Yuxing had forgotten to remove it.

Lin Yuxing had learned from a certain book that if a person had a favorable impression of someone’s pheromones, their compatibility must be above 40%. If both individuals find each other’s pheromones highly appealing, their compatibility must be above 60% or even higher.

However, in the present day, different from the old times, society embraced free love, so seeking a partner based on pheromone compatibility had long been eliminated.

With the invention of various pheromone inhibitors, both Alphas and Omegas no longer needed to force themselves to be with someone they didn’t like because of pheromones.

Nowadays, there were pheromone barriers, pheromone eliminators, and the most common pheromone isolators, all of which people used in their daily lives.

And the “people” producing those remarkable pheromone products were the Gu family, the family that Gu Zhongyi belonged to.

Lin Yuxing lowered his head thoughtfully and sniffed the scarf. The scent of bitter orange was faint but clearly perceived by his senses, turning into a sweet fragrance.

As a result, his cheeks turned red.

He quickly took off the scarf, his heartbeat accelerating uncontrollably.

Lin Yuxing being someone who kept a clear mind, believed that his unusual reaction must be because the pheromones on the scarf had been close to him for too long, leading to unnecessary fantasies.

To prevent himself from getting even more heated and lost in fantasies, he determinedly stuffed the scarf into his backpack and zipped it up.

Even when he finished work and faced the cold wind outside, he didn’t take out the scarf.

When he returned to the dormitory, Lin Yuxing opened the door and saw Su Li sweetly bubbling over with excitement as he was on a video call with his online dating partner.

Seeing that, Lin Yuxing knocked on the dormitory door, “Sorry to interrupt, the third wheel is back.”

Originally lying down while on the video call, Su Li awkwardly covered his phone when he saw Lin Yuxing. However, he had no intention of hanging up and directly said to the person on the other end of the call, “Uh, my, my roommate, he’s back from work.”

In the video, Liang Xie, an Alpha with a calm and handsome appearance, didn’t show much surprise. His voice sounded particularly pleasant, “Let’s hang up for now. I have something to do, and you should rest early too.”

Su Li said goodbye reluctantly, then turned around and asked Lin Yuxing if he wanted to go to the cafeteria for a meal.

“I’ve already eaten,” Lin Yuxing didn’t pay attention to Su Li. He placed one of the packs of butterfly pastry on Su Li’s desk, then took out the scarf from his backpack and headed straight for the balcony. Lin Yuxing skillfully hung the scarf on two hangers and placed it near the open window, facing the breeze.

Su Li approached, hugging himself and rubbing his arms, “It’s so cold. What are you doing?”

Lin Yuxing secretly thought, “ be calm!”

He planned to hang the scarf on the balcony to let the wind blow away all the pheromones left by Gu Zhongyi by tomorrow morning. Even if he couldn’t wash it and hang it immediately, Lin Yuxing wanted to soak it in the laundry basin for half an hour before hanging it up.

At the same time…

Gu Zhongyi was driving his car into an exquisitely designed villa. The sensing system on the gate automatically recognized his license plate and let him through. He skillfully parked his car in the garage and walked calmly through the path hidden amidst the leafy trees, leading to the main hall.

The housekeeper, Aunt Qiu, respectfully greeted him and arranged the food on the table one by one.

Under the warm-colored lights, the brightly decorated villa felt exceptionally cozy.

But Gu Zhongyi knew that beneath the intact appearance, there was only estrangement between them.

“Zhongyi, you’re back?”

A melodious female voice fell softly like cotton.

Gu Zhongyi’s stepmother, Xu Wanling, was wearing a cheongsam and gracefully came down the stairs. Her attitude was quite good, as a stepmother, she had never mistreated Gu Zhongyi not even once, but she also maintained a certain distance from him.

The two of them usually just exchanged polite greetings and didn’t communicate much.

Xu Wanling was beautiful, and her manners reflected her high-class background. Compared to Gu Zhongyi’s birth mother, who had worked as a maid in the house, she was a completely different person.

When Gu Zhongyi saw her, he often wondered if his mother could have had the same background as her, would they have been driven out of the house, would their mother and son relationship be as estranged as it was now.

But the fault didn’t lie with Xu Wanling; it was the conservative mindset of that family and his stubborn father.

Xu Wanling was accustomed to Gu Zhongyi’s silence. She had a good temper and said, “The food is ready, I’ll call your father.”

She turned around, and Gu Zhuang happened to come out of the study on the second floor.

Gu Zhuang, nearly 50 years old, still had a trace of youthful vigor in his brows. Gu Zhongyi resembled him.

Gu Zhongyi shouted, “Father.”

The Gu Zhuang in front of him didn’t say a word, sat down with a stern face, and only spoke after a while, “When you see Aunt Ling, you don’t even greet her.”

Gu Zhongyi calmly said, “Aunt Ling.”

“Oh,” Xu Wanling gently responded, her tone slow as she smiled, “The food is getting cold, let’s eat.”

The three of them sat down at the dining table.

In the spacious hall, it felt somewhat empty.

Xu Wanling couldn’t bear children but she had a business alliance with Gu Zhuang and they didn’t pay much attention to the aspect of not having kids. The couple couldn’t be said to genuinely love each other, they were just a match of one being strong-willed and the other gentle, complementing each other, and they had lived harmoniously over the years.

However, their emotional connection with their only son, Gu Zhongyi, was weak and close to non-existent.

Gu Zhongyi ate quietly, not willing to talk much. Gu Zhuang had been strict with him since he was young, and there had never been a normal conversation between father and son.

After a while, Gu Zhuang compromised first and asked in a deep voice, “How have things been recently?”

“The same as usual,” Gu Zhongyi replied as he took a sip of soup scooped by Qiu Jie.

“I heard you made a lot of money in the stock market recently and bought a bachelor apartment in the city center.”

“I didn’t make that much,” Gu Zhongyi said emotionlessly, “The location of the apartment is good, but the price is high. I used the money I earned from the restaurant my grandfather gave me to subsidize it.”

Gu Zhuang glanced at his son and said, “It’s just some petty cash, not of much use. For this kind of apartment, It’s not worth the trouble.”

Gu Zhongyi saw a spring onion floating in his bowl of soup and used his spoon to press it down.

Seeing that Gu Zhongyi didn’t respond, Gu Zhuang changed the topic, “Your cousin also started school this year. Have you met?”

“We’ve met a couple of times, but we don’t interact much.”

“Not interacting is the right thing to do,” Gu Zhuang wasn’t surprised. He took a bite of shrimp and said, “He’s an Omega, so he won’t be able to bear heavy burdens in the future. Since you’re unwilling to go abroad as I arranged, you should start learning about the company as soon as possible. In the future, the responsibility of managing the company will probably fall on you.”

Gu Zhuang was a rigid and conservative person who believed that the company should be inherited by an Alpha.

However, Gu Zhongyi had never liked Gu Zhuang’s bias. He refuted and revealed the name of his Omega cousin mentioned by Gu Zhuang, “Dad, his name isn’t Omega, he’s called Gu Nuan.”

Gu Zhuang’s hand holding the chopsticks froze. Gu Zhongyi had never used to argue with him before.

“And also…” Gu Zhongyi hadn’t finished speaking, he didn’t want to hear Gu Zhuang belittle Gu Nuan every time he came home for dinner.

He continued, “Gu Nuan is very intelligent, and his father has always given him strict education. Unless something unexpected happens, he will definitely inherit the company. You don’t understand Gu Nuan, so there’s no need to make such one-sided judgments about him. He will be an excellent business leader in the future.”

For some reason, Gu Zhongyi said the last sentence with great certainty, as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

Gu Zhuang suddenly lost his appetite and put down his chopsticks.

Xu Wanling focused on her meal, she was used to their arguments and did not want to get involved.

The atmosphere became extremely tense.

Gu Zhuang snorted coldly, “An Omega.”

“Omegas are not inferior to Alphas?.”

A pair of chopsticks was slammed in front of Gu Zhongyi.

“Gu Zhongyi,  Are you intentionally trying to provoke me?”

Gu Zhongyi interrupted him, “Dad, I know what you’re thinking and I know what you’re planning to arrange for me next. But you shouldn’t gamble on me like this, and I advise you not to have any  thoughts about me joining the company. We shouldn’t touch or interfere with what belongs to our cousin’s family.”

Gu Zhuang’s face turned red with anger, and he stood up and scolded, “This company already has half of our hard work! I see that you’ve gone mad these past two years, daring to lecture me?”

Facing Gu Zhuang’s anger, Gu Zhongyi remained unmoved, “I’m doing this for your own good.”

After the college entrance examination………

Gu Zhongyi originally planned to listen to Gu Zhuang and study abroad, but after he got into a car accident, he changed drastically. At that time, Gu Zhongyi would often lock himself in his room, refusing to eat or drink, and he actually seemed much older than his actual age.

One morning, Gu Zhongyi suddenly woke up as if from a dream and opened the tightly closed door himself.

From that day on, he changed completely.

He started talking back, resisting, and even enrolled in a university that Gu Zhuang had not intended for him to go to. The rebellious period erupted, throwing the quiet and dull family into chaos.

Gu Zhongyi, who had always been obedient like a robot, decided not to let Gu Zhuang control him anymore.

“Since heaven has given me a chance to start over, it means that I shouldn’t walk down a wrong path again.”

That was the first thing he told himself.

He quickly informed Gu Zhuang that he wanted to move out. Moreover, he didn’t plan to use a single cent from Gu Zhuang anymore, and he hoped that Gu Zhuang would stop restricting him in any way.

Gu Zhuang flew into a rage, and the father and son had several quarrels. Gu Zhuang, with his hot temper, raised his hand as usual to hit Gu Zhongyi, but for the first time, Gu Zhongyi grabbed his wrist.

“Dad, I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Just that sentence almost gave Gu Zhuang a heart attack.

In the end, Xu Wanling couldn’t bear to see it anymore and intervened to mediate. Under her persuasion, Gu Zhuang reluctantly agreed to let Gu Zhongyi move out, and Gu Zhongyi agreed to come home for dinner once every month.

But who knew that day, the meal was destined to end unhappily.

Gu Zhuang left angrily, ruthlessly mocking, “You’re just like your mother,, how could I have a son like you.”

Gu Zhongyi never felt warmth in his family. He drove away from the villa in fury.

On the way, Gu Zhongyi’s face was cold as ice.

During a red light interval, Gu Zhongyi received a message from Lin Yuxing: [Can we meet tomorrow? Zhou Jie baked butterfly pastries and asked me to bring you a bag to taste.]

Lin Yuxing sent another message: [If you need it. (The expression of a little hamster nibbling on a biscuit)]

His cold heart instantly melted like snow.

Seeing that the red light was about to turn green, Gu Zhongyi replied with a voice message: “Yes, what time tomorrow?” After that, he sent another message, “Yuxing, actually ,I’m coming over now to pick it up.”

Setting aside his phone, Gu Zhongyi drove to C University.

For some reason, at that moment, he really wanted to see Lin Yuxing.

The radio in the car happened to switch to a station where the host was talking about strange letters: “Do you believe in parallel universes? Do you believe in the so-called rebirth in novels? Today, a listener submitted a letter claiming to have been reborn from a world ten years in the future. Just this one sentence—”

Gu Zhongyi turned off the radio.

The voice abruptly stopped, and he encountered another red light.

While waiting, Gu Zhongyi turned his head and looked out the car window. Reflected on the glass was his 19-year-old self with the soul of a 29-year-old.

It was a chance to start over, leaving behind all the mistakes and being able to live again.

And that time, at the beginning of everything, he was finally getting closer to Lin Yuxing, whom he had longed for day and night.